As wireless network data rates improve using third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), and WiFi technologies, users are using wireless networks for more and more bandwidth-intensive applications. While offering improvements over earlier generations of wireless networks, available bandwidth for today's wireless networks is not unlimited. Particularly, the available radio frequency (RF) spectrum for wireless access networks may be exhausted during peak use periods in major metropolitan areas. For example, transfer of bandwidth-intensive content (such as video and multimedia content) by multiple mobile devices (e.g., a mobile communication device, a laptop computer, etc.) within the same area (e.g., served by the same base station) may cause users to experience degraded performance.
A wireless network may include traditional wireless communication stations (macro cell base stations) installed at fixed locations and used to communicate with the mobile devices. Various options are available to wireless service providers to mitigate bandwidth limitations, but many of these options require knowledge of localized congestion areas within a particular cell. However, pinpointing a specific area of high bandwidth use within a crowded metropolitan environment (e.g., including adjacent, high-rise buildings) remains a challenge.